[Free Sample] Paradise Induction Chapter 4 – Extract 22

Chapter 4 – Extract 22 from The Paradise Induction!

The coldness continued for a month and a half. And it wasn’t just her. My actual room seemed to be descending into sub-zero temperature, like the freezer of a morgue readying me for the grave.

I was allowed a fraction of hope in that she hadn’t met a new man, but felt repeatedly tormented by the sudden disappearance of our romantic connection—no explanation—like central heating switched off during a bitter February winter. Whether at home or work, it made every breath I took like inhaling water. I was drowning, but extremely slowly and there was nothing I could do.

When I told my father about Arianna, his words were the catalyst that can turn a flowing stream into rock solid ice.

“Son,” he said. “You’re talking about a young, pretty single American girl, who lives in an apartment by herself? You know she’s got to be having fellas over, right?”

In the end, I sent an email to her calling the whole thing off in the most polite and loving way I could. I signed off the letter: “If you could make someone fall in love with you over this long distance, then I know you’re going to make someone very happy.”